


when the weather is good

by taegyuist



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Bad Weather, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, beomgyu is round and taehyun is small, falling yeah, i still dont know how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27682951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taegyuist/pseuds/taegyuist
Summary: “let’s see the stars together next time beomgyu hyung.”“yes, surely.”—(or : beomgyu makes two cups of star tea and sits on the hammock chair in the front patio with his legs crossed up on the tiny shelter, but he ends up drinking both the cups when he remembers that taehyun isn’t there with him.)
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Kudos: 24





	when the weather is good

**Author's Note:**

> lowercase intended !  
> i really tried to proofread at daybreak pls  
> first serve for the taegyuists aaaaa i hope this is okay <3 
> 
> —
> 
> twt : @ gyufile  
> curiouscat : @ beomfile

* * *

_i can see, even if you’re not in front of me._

there’s a tree, and a boy standing right under it.

water can in hand, he bends his wrist downwards to pour it slowly, perhaps even slower than the dawning of the sky. because here’s the thing, the day-times and night-times are scheduled, scheduled by whoever the hell even knows. but indeed, there is a specific time as to when the sun would actually rise from the horizon, and fall back down to hide from the moonlight.

yes, to hide from the moonlight. the moon has its own light source, no one knows who makes it happen too, but for sure someone (maybe at least a group of people or creatures) are there in charge of all these things. one for the sun, one for the moon, and one for the stars.

although everything else feels so unnecessarily sedated at the very given moment, taehyun doesn’t even realize that there was no more water falling from the tip of the rusty water can anymore. and that merely six minutes have gone past seven, but still no warmth of sunlight has washed over the backyard of the little cottage house.

“don’t you think you’ve watered it, a bit too much?” a familiar morning voice resonates from behind taehyun. so he lifts his gaze and rotates his body partially, seeing another boy standing a few inches away from him against the cold grass, barefoot, and eyes half closed.

“oh, good morning beomgyu hyung.”

“hi.”

there’s a moment of silence rubbing off in between them, but not the awkward kind. understandable as it’s literally seven in the morning, and there is still no sign of a sunshine rising from any corner in the sky, stuck with the same tardy shade of dark greyish-blue. tyun steps out from his spot a few seconds after giving the taller one a little smile, heading away to grab the stringed basket that rested on the other side of the trunk. fallen leaves from the tree inside the container was the first thing beomgyu sees when the latter comes back to see him again.

taehyun speaks, “i think the sun chaperone is late today, must’ve lost track of time or something.”

“could be.” gyu nods slowly, making his few hair strands which were pointing north get pushed flat south by gravity. and despite the fact that the younger one was carrying a whole basket of leaves in front of him, beomgyu still closes the gap between them, along with his eyes, nudging his face into the crook of taehyun’s neck which made the shorter boy raise his head a little higher to the side, smiling as he promptly dropped the container back down to the ground to hold only beomgyu in his arms instead.

suddenly, it’s so warm. suddenly, the sun is up.

“let’s go for breakfast,” gyu muffles against the latter’s skin, and taehyun could feel the sound waves turn into vibrations as it touched his neck, downwards to his shoulders. “it’s not like that tree would die if you don’t water it at all.”

“i know, i just water it for fun, it’s kinda healing.”

“why?” beomgyu pulls off and looks straight into taehyun’s eyes worriedly, “are you feeling un-okay these days?”

momentarily, taehyun freezes, confused, then begins to giggle at the latter’s reaction. “nooo! i’m not. i just meant it feels good, you know?”

“you sure yeah?”

“of course.” tyun reassures him before picking up the basket once again, then drifting gestures for them both to head back inside the house.

. . .

there is a saying that if you usually have really warm hands, then it means you’re not so “plant-friendly”, but that superstition somehow sounds objectionable in this situation, or in this world at all in general. because for someone like beomgyu who seems to be warmer than the usual warm, it’s rather different. since among all the life trees in village, beomgyu’s tree doesn’t just bloom, his tree _shines._

every being residing in this village has one tree standing close to where they live. they are called life trees for a reason, as it works as a timer that indicates how long the person who owns it will live. if the tree is healthy, so is the owner. if it dies, so will they. ceasing to exist as though they were never meant to exist.

and as for beomgyu’s, which shines, he shines even brighter.

“actually i still wonder why you don’t have your very own tree, no matter how many times you tell me tha-“

“that maybe i’m some kind of special being? yep. this is like, the 1000th time i’m telling you.” taehyun interrupted.

it’s noon already, and beomgyu unfolds a brown paper in his hand, rotating the sheet to the correct angle so the sunlight can illuminate it before he began to say something again. “don’t blame me for that,” he comes back at taehyun with an unintended funny glare on his face. “your fault for cutting me off.”

“fine sorry, i’ll go back to 999.” taehyun grins mischievously while standing behind the older one as they open the front door of their house from outside. abruptly, the floor begins to flood with thick white fog coming from the other side the same time gyu pulled the doorknob, and it crawls its way between their ankles, seeping through the wooden floor of the patio that creaked after they took their last step with them to the other side of the portal completely.

“we’re almost there!” beomgyu’s tone raises into a little boost of excitement. it’s the first time in a while that they’re going on a trip anyway, since the several previous ones have always been canceled due to bad weather. the chaperones can be pretty messed up with the balance of temperatures sometimes, at least they both know that and know what to expect already.

but today is perfect. the sky is painted with a bright shade of blue with its pastel pink clouds, similar to the color of the outline of gyu’s sweater, which taehyun keeps holding onto as he trailed at the back of the taller boy. the thick smoke in the air disappears gradually until they recognize that they’re standing on a path inside a forest while trees began to appear clearly before their eyes. and when taehyun looked back for a moment, the door of their cottage-house is nowhere to be found anymore. everything then becomes so visible enough for taehyun to let loose of beomgyu’s sleeve that he once held onto so tightly.

“welcome to acornland, tyun! apparently the lead fairies took a little vacation here not too long ago, so i guess it’s a good place.” beomgyu looks back at him with a genuine smile. excited more than ever despite the fact that their location looked just like any other forest they’ve ever been to. empty, calm and very green.

“but hyung,” taehyun utters while bending down to pick something beneath a bunch of crunched leaves. he rises with a little item in his hand and shows it to the latter. “these are chestnut trees.”

“well then... the fairies must’ve changed it!” beomgyu bites his lip out of embarrassment even though there’s no need of feeling that way. he’s already done quite a number of unexplainable things in front of the younger one before, so this should be fine.

“don’t be silly, give me the map.” the younger one keeps laughing as he came forward to grab the clipped sheet from beomgyu’s fingers, but fails to do so when gyu steps back once.

“no it’s okay i’ll do it.”

“but we’ll get lost??” taehyun’s tone climbs in disbelief, but not the kind where an argument would follow after. his eyes just tend to become rounder than usual, brows raised and chin higher.

beomgyu tilts his head to the side and stretches an arm up to ruffle the latter’s hair. “no we won’t, you stupid. i can literally go through the bathroom door at home and land in another country. that’s my thing.”

taehyun huffs out the few strands which fell against his eyes when gyu messed it all around, deciding that the older one actually stated a good point. perhaps upon that same moment, that moment beomgyu looked him in the eyes with that stupid smile, he forgot all about the other fantasies and possibilities in the world.

“so what are we planning to do here?” he cuts his own train of thought and waits for beomgyu’s answer.

the round boy takes a look at the map again, “hmm... there’s a three km walk to the river at north and another four to six km to reach the little tulip field that soob owns when we turn right in one of the pathways. this acor- chestnut area is actually just another part of his planting projects. and i can’t use magic here to teleport because he gets all fussy about it. he once said my magic is weak?? can you believe that?”

“isn’t he that elf with the purple hat? you told me once about him.” tyun follows. they begin to hurdle down the narrow road as beomgyu took the lead while still having his eyes stuck to the paper.

“yep! it’s him, he’s the tallest elf around so we shouldn’t mess up, he could possibly be short-tempered. i just wanna ask him for a rose-gold tulip to give to that astroboy hyuka who lives six houses away,‘cause he said he’d let me borrow his telescope in return.”

taehyun hears birds chirping so loudly on the branches, but the distraction closes off shortly, “what do you need a telescope for though?”

gyu turns to see him again properly, still walking through the rough rail. “i’m trying to look for a way to travel to space. i can literally travel anywhere around this planet so i’m wondering if there’s at least a tiny chance i can really go up there with you, you know? it’s gonna be cool, i call dibs on the moon for first stop.”

tyun doesn’t reply anymore because eventually, the two of them begin to meet the faint sound of flowing water, the air becomes colder and colder, and taehyun suddenly wishes he could find a bridge somewhere.

“we need to walk through the water too, you’re fine with that right? it’s actually a little stream.” beomgyu informs him loudly the minute they reach the shoreline between the pebbles on land and the transparent water since the quick tide occupied quite most of the volume. tyun heaves a big, big sigh, and no, it doesn’t stop gyu from talking. “it’s shallow too so it would only reach until our knees, most likely.”

“the rocks at the bottom can be slippery though, we might slip.” taehyun worries. he’s not wrong, but beomgyu nonchalantly ignored him and pushed his feet against the cold water right after taking off his shoes and folding the map back deep into the pocket of his sweater. he makes a huge splash and waits for the other to do the same, but taehyun stays restraint. so gyu returns to land and offers a hand.

“okay hold my hand.” he says. a few more seconds pass, and tyun finally takes it after removing his shoes too. so the pairs of shoes in one hand, and the other intertwined.

beomgyu releases a short line of laughters the moment taehyun squeaked of nervousness as they walked through the stream again together this time, trying to stay calm. but he reached the feel of ease more when the other one yelled at him while they took each step forward slowly.

“just-! trust me! we’ll be alright!!”

_i feel you, even if you don’t say a word._

other than traveling here and there together during the weekends, beomgyu also likes to use the advantage of getting to various places under the speed of lightwhen he helps out in delivering random packages around the village with taehyun as his companion during the weekdays. be it letters, tiny boxes wrapped in brown paper or flowers; or tiny boxes wrapped in brown paper with flowers and letters inside them. but they only do it sometimes, because of the unpredictable weather. alongside that, they never really fancied the idea of not being with each other for just a day, never even thought about it properly since it’s just so unusual.

ever since that very first time beomgyu found the younger boy sleeping underneath his tree on the night he had turned eleven, they were indivisible.

and though it’s a monday morning, taehyun doesn’t wake up early to water the tree at the backyard and sleeps in for more. he doesn’t even hear the loud chimes violently shaking as it hung on the little roof of the open window outside their bedroom when a rainstorm hit from the skies instead of sunlight. and it’s so noisy, so cold, which made beomgyu irritated enough to finally get up and close the gap between the frame and the glass, blocking both volume and bleakness in the air. he then crawls his way back to bed beside the sleeping boy, who doesn’t even move the slightest centimeter, back facing the older one, still as ice.

so while beomgyu tucked himself back into the sheets, he also pulls the blanket upwards all the way to cover taehyun’s neck, struggling to do so as shivering is pretty inevitable at this point, and his head is so heavy from the morning tiredness that it could possibly drop down on the pillow instead of haunching over to see whether the latter is doing fine and is away from the cold. in the end, he manages anyway.

but the moment beomgyu rested his head down against the pillow to fetch some more sleep, taehyun groaned of annoyance and yanked the comforter off of himself, kicking the sheets away until it all covers only gyu’s side. this makes the round boy sit back up again, he rubs his eyes and leans over the little one’s body, peeking to see him, though it actually becomes a lot more easier when taehyun rotates himself to face beomgyu, who finds that he was still unconscious.

apart from taehyun’s soft cotton-white hair, his pout and his skin, beomgyu also notices the latter’s furrowed eyebrows, the little beads of sweat trickling down the outline of his face and how his breathing pattern is pacing faster than normal. so he places his palm over the boy’s forehead, and for a while, gyu begins to decipher that he’s almost just as cold as the temperature of the air. and that it’s not just sweat, it’s cold sweat.

“taehyun-ah.” beomgyu’s voice croaks of disuse as he pats the boy’s shoulder in a gentle manner to try and wake him up. “how are you feeling?”

the expected zero response comes back at him after waiting for a few more seconds. for a while, gyu does nothing, and after a little more; he decided to move again, pulling the hem of his own sleeve to wipe off the sweat on taehyun’s damp hair.

tyun grumbles, trying to open his tired eyes to adjust with the radiance of the room, which isn’t even that bright because it’s so dark outside. eventually, he settles, eyes meeting beomgyu’s from the same position itself. he doesn’t move much, somewhat afraid that the boy sitting in front of him would stop caressing his face like that, like the delicate way he does it.

“hyung.” he utters, voice frail and quiet. yet it’s hoarse over the frigid weather, since he’s most seemingly lying under it too. “what are you doing?”

beomgyu doesn’t ask the same question anymore when he sees the most evident red lines circling around the little one’s irises after studying them so quickly, so he gives in a frown, “you’re sick.”

taehyun cuts off the eye contact for a bit to try processing the information completely. then comes back to look at him again, head shaking lethargically in denial. “i’m just still tired.”

“that’s because you’re sick, stupid.”

“why do you always call me that, you hypocrite.”

a weak smile crosses taehyun’s lips as he shuts his eyes and suddenly grabs beomgyu’s forearm, pulling it towards him,making the latter fall into the pillows again, both their faces becoming merely three inches away from each other. and even though he’s long-sleeved, beomgyu feels the heat coming from tyun’s body when his arm lands on the side of the boy’s neck.

taehyun stops smiling while he hid his hands under his own sleeves when he placed them back down on the mattress. “let’s sleep.”

“i need to get you something warm to drink though, so i’ll just—“

“no, stay here. i’m already warm anyway.” taehyun answers back, hoping beomgyu would actually listen to him. and fuck it, his voice is so damn soft beomgyu found it too endearing, which made his first decision weak enough for him to really just stay still.

“fine. but i’m leaving to make you some tea after thirty minutes, because your stubborn ass will probably be burning by then.”

so beomgyu stays in the same position, observing taehyun’s features as the latter slept very soundly. he then proceeds to use his right hand to stroke the boy’s hair in the lightest way possible. and the other hand slid south to lace them with tyun’s fingers peeking out from the hem of his grey sweater.

the thing is, taehyun isn’t actually sleeping yet. so he feels everything happening at the very moment when beomgyu touches him. at this point, he doesn’t even know if the insane warmth of his body is because of his fever, or because of the latter. and it’s so warm it contrasts with the weather outside, where the raindrops kept knocking against the window, working as some sort of reminder trying to keep them conscious before they get too lost in their own world.

but who knows? maybe it’s taehyun’s and beomgyu’s world after all.

. . .

“this tastes like dirt.”

gyu snorts despite the indirect offense he received after taehyun took a sip of the tea he made as soon as he served it on the little table in the living room, where they both decided to settle the moment the downpour left and took the cold with it, which made beomgyu finally get up the following hour. tyun’s state stays the same, slow and lazy.

“as if you’ve tasted dirt before,” he fires back, “just drink it all in one go so you can rest again, i didn’t make it too hot.”

taehyun follows with another sip, eyes darting against beomgyu’s still, who watched him very closely while the cup angled upwards as seconds ticked by, and eventually, the younger one returned it to gyu, empty.

so beomgyu sets the teacup back on the little table in front of them then proceeds to help tyun with lying down properly, placing a throw-pillow behind the boy’s head and covering him up with the sheets which he took from the bedroom the same time he ushered tyun out about an hour ago.

“now sleep while i cook us something.” beomgyu tells him, standing and staring at taehyun who kept watching his every move. a line of quietness appears and goes, and he speaks again, “is there anything you want?... the star tea isn’t making you feel sleepy?”

“star tea?” the boy utters, curious.

“yep, i made some and called it that. the leaves of the tree are silver i know but then silver tea doesn’t sound nice,” gyu giggles in between, “it’s supposed to make you feel better soon, so just sleep.”

taehyun nods laggardly, and sooner or later, his sight became foggy, beomgyu’s figure vanished, leaving everything black and clouded.

. . .

“why did it rise??”

beomgyu’s voice turns a bit too loud the moment he checks the boy’s temperature after another hour when he’s finally finished rambling around in the kitchen just to successfully make a good looking bowl of hot pho which he brought with him too, the old teacup has been replaced with a glass of water and a pill at the side. and despite the outbursting reaction, gyu sits calmly on the armrest of the couch while taehyun forced himself to sit up on the cushions, cracking an eye open weakly.

“you were right, hyung.” tyun mutters, not sounding like his usual self anymore and itching a little from the burning sensation he’s currently under. “i think i am sick.”

“sure you are. you’re literally still pointing the obvious out right now and that’s not normal.”

beomgyu helps him up by stacking the pillows right behind taehyun’s back, pouting at the sight of the little one who acted sluggish and ever so sickly, giving out a cough or two and wiping his nose using the sleeve of his sweater. “you made this?”

“yes!! don’t worry, it’s edible.” the older boy reassures before nodding his head. he then leans closer to watch as taehyun took the first bite, waiting for a reaction, a cool one to boost his ego a little.

but it all dies down when taehyun speaks again, saying, “it’s bland.”

“that still means it’s good then.” beomgyu gives in yet another simper before standing up from the armrest to sit in front of the younger one on the carpet lying underneath the low table. proceeding to card taehyun’s hair away from his eyes so it’s easier for him to eat. “at this point you really won’t be able to taste anything properly anyway since you’re burning. you want me to feed you?”

“i’m not _dying_ ,” tyun tells him out of sarcasm after taking note of how much effort and care beomgyu has already been working himself off over the previous hours while the latter spent the time sleeping. the indoor plants are watered, the laundry has been done, and food has been prepared.

beomgyu laughs. “okay okay! just finish half of it if you can, then take the pill and call me when you’re done, okay? i’ll be picking some more leaves at the backyard to grind and set them dry at the patio for tea tomorrow morning, in case you don’t heal any time soon.”

with that said, the round boy took his leave, which of course meant his hand stopped stroking taehyun’s hair as the younger one ate the ‘bland’ pho he’s currently having. it disappointed him a little; though he cannot really deny the fact that beomgyu left for him anyway. everything feels so warm physically and mentally, making taehyun start to wonder whether this whole situation is just a fever dream or not.

so he pops the pill into his mouth with some water, and way sooner than expected, his surroundings begin to diminish into tiny specks of nothingness, and a faint sound of a hurrying beomgyu calling his name echoes silently, draining down a black hole.

. . .

later on, the sun sets down along with taehyun’s fever. there’s then a sudden blurred volume that the chimes produced at the porch outside, blocked by the glass doors that’s been shut to keep the cold away.

and slowly, when taehyun opens his eyes,he meets the face of a napping little beomgyu with his head hung low and so close against the latter, making him realize that his head must’ve been resting on beomgyu’s lap for hours too to the point that the older one has fallen asleep as well. for a while, tyun does nothing and examines the eyelashes lolled upon the other one’s cheeks, his pouting lips and steady breathing. taehyun begins to think of how uncomfortable this posture must be for beomgyu, taking the aftermath of a stiff neck into account. so he shakes himself a bit to try and wake the older one. “hyung.”

gyu’s head rises in an instant with his eyes open wide as if he weren’t dreaming just a few seconds ago. now, the only thing taehyun can see properly is the latter’s chin, but he still suspects that the boy must be powerless by this hour, he has most likely been working around the entire day anyway, explaining the nap, and his numb thighs pressed down due to the weight of taehyun’s head resting against it. and eventually, his gaze falls back down towards the little one who he called his name.

“taehyun-ah,” he lifts his right arm from the armrest of the sofa to place his palm on tyun’s forehead so he could check how warm the boy was. “how are you feeling?”

beomgyu’s voice is soft yet cracking over the frost and disuse. he comes to his senses under the span of two minutes when he feels that taehyun’s head isn’t as warm as how it was a long while back.

“i’m okay now, i think.” the younger one does nothing more but smile endearingly at the yawning chestnut boy who then continued on to card his fingers through tyun’s hair. though every stroke felt chilly, the younger one thought it could be better if beomgyu would keep doing that until the next hour at least; because it felt nice, it felt safe.

“are you sure? you passed out right after drinking your medicine a while ago. i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have left you.” beomgyu slightly pouts in dismay.

“yeah, you shouldn’t have,” taehyun fires back in the most driest way possible, which leads the little pout into a big frown, so taehyun laughs for a bit, “i’m just kidding. i meant thank you, for taking care of me.”

hearing this, beomgyu returns the curved line on his lips, eyes crossing upwards to notice a lowly hanging moon on the evening sky outside the wide glass window at the side of the living room.

taehyun then manages to pick himself up from his current position so he could see what got the latter so distracted which even made him stop caressing the little one’s hair for a while. and when tyun found out it was just the stupid moon, he bends back down and sprawls his arms around beomgyu’s waist to give him a hug despite that it was sort of uncomfortable. the older one had to adjust a bit so he could hug him back, eyes landing back to watch as taehyun successfully stole his attention all over again.

“why are you so clingy? you’re not usually like that.” gyu laughs in between moving around the same spot just so taehyun can hug him comfortably and hide his face into the cloth of beomgyu’s shirt. but the younger one suddenly pretends to pull away when gyu says this.

“no no no!!! stay like this, let’s stay like this.”

“ _‘why are you so clingy??’_ ” taehyun mimics him as soon as he was pulled closer one more time after he tried to leave, receiving a pinch at the side of his tummy before realizing that beomgyu was slowly melting down the couch, head languidly falling against the armrest with his eyes shut and hands still wrapped around tyun’s back.

_on a sunset evening, even at night when the sky is dark;_

just like the feeling of opening the first gift on the twenty-fifth night of december, beomgyu runs to search for taehyun around the cottage house with an envelope he took from the mailbox at such a late hour. the lanterns at the corners of the fences have already been lit, and the crickets continue to stridulate somewhere in the bushes.

it doesn’t actually take long for him to find the latter, since the boy was still in the same place where he last saw him, sitting on the floor with his back rested against the windowsill at the porch in the backyard, sliding door still pushed open so the mild wind could surge into the room to keep the temperature moderate. he was busy inspecting the telescope beomgyu had borrowed from a far friend, hueningkai, but raises his gaze up to the standing beomgyu right in front of him, looking all excited and smiley as he waved the envelope to and fro into the air so taehyun could take notice immediately.

“what’s that, hyung?” taehyun puts the white scope down on the floor next to him and pats the space on the other side so beomgyu could sit, the latter perches over comfortably, keeping his lips curved as he flattens the paper to show him what’s written.

“we have a special delivery quest to the sun chaperone!” beomgyu hollers while shaking tyun’s shoulder immensely, “it’s an urgent carting so we gotta gooo!!”

. . .

after a bit of prepping and figuring the location of where exactly beomgyu is supposed to create a portal to teleport, he meets with taehyun in their bedroom and locks the door. “are you ready?”

“the question is are _you_ ready,” tyun corrects him, index finger pointing towards the taller boy who started to think of what exactly he was trying to imply by that. but taehyun ends up picking an item from his feet. “i took the woolen sack bag and put the package inside it. it’s right here.”

“oh my god right, thank you,” beomgyu sneers and starts scratching the back of his neck in slight shame as he grabbed the bag from taehyun when the boy handed it over to him. “let’s go?”

“yeah, i’m all set!” the latter smiles sheepishly and follows beomgyu who gave him a hand to hold before he opened the bedroom door again.

“when i open this door we’ll be right in front of the sun chaperone’s gate so all we gotta do is give this to him and leave, won’t be too hard yeah? we’ve never done a delivery for someone of a high ranking before, and, i actually forgot his name... yeonu? yeonu or something.”

“it’s yeonjun.” taehyun corrects him again, and gyu nods in return. “oh right yes, yeonjun.”

taehyun strolls off behind him too as the thin line between the ground and the bottom of the door got covered in white mist when beomgyu pulled the door open. and it’s almost eight in the evening, you could barely see anything on the other side yet other than the cloud thick gas that usually fizzes off whenever they travel heavy distances.

unfortunately, the fog doesn’t fade as quick as it should have, which makes taehyun a little nervous since he almost can see nothing else but the blue lining of the round boy’s sleeve. beomgyu then feels a sudden squeeze in his hand as they continue to walk their way into the portal.

“you okay?” beomgyu asks but he doesn’t look back.

“yeah a little bit. can you see anything?”

before the answer was even replied, the unwanted mist dies off in an instant. and then and there, the two are met with a small warmly-lit home in front of them.

“do you notice that? there’s no tree behind the house, so it means he probably lives for so long now!!” beomgyu gets excited all over again, jumping and hitting taehyun’s shoulder once. “okay okay, i need to relax, jeez.”

. . .

instantly after taehyun used the door knocker, they both stand back, welcomed by a yellow light flowing from inside the doorway with a smiling guy peeping out. the response was so fast it was as if the receiver had been waiting by the front door all this time. “hello there!”

messy hair, about the same height as the other two, or mostly beomgyu, in a bright purple padding, white pajamas and silver wired specs on. the chaperone lets his glasses slide down his nose bridge a little bit, eyeing the visitors with a positive impression. he then stops and raises his head normally again when beomgyu clears his throat.

“good evening, yeonjun-n,” beomgyu drags the last letter into dissipation. “here’s your package.”

yeonjun grabs the shoe box-sized rectangular item while nodding. “oh, thank you.”

everything freezes in its trance as jjun observes the two of them, almost head-to-toeing the pair for a solid minute before saying something again. “so, how are you guys going home?”

“sorry?” gyu looks dumbfounded.

“no i mean, you can teleport right? but the portal you made a while ago is gone now.” yeonjun reminds him. and beomgyu’s eyes suddenly grow large.

“how did you know i can teleport??”

“you just give me that vibe, and you guys are so early! thank you again, please come in!” the boy welcomes them inside his home, and the temperature contrasts so sharply with the cold outside. “you can use the door to the library, it’s fine.”

when yeonjun turns his back in front of them so he could lead the two deeper into the little hallway, beomgyu leans a bit low to his right where taehyun is standing and whispers, “he’s so nice.”

“i know right?” taehyun remains straight-faced as they walk in, following yeonjun.

and after a few more turns in the house, they finally reached the right passage. “there it is.”

“thank you.” taehyun speaks after a long time. the three of them then halt firmly right in front of the closed door and yeonjun gives him another look, but he doesn’t reply with a corresponding answer the moment he presumed something when he gazed into the younger one’s eyes.

“star keeper? i didn’t think you’d still be around.”

beomgyu doesn’t say anything, marooned aside from the short conversation that began flowing between the other two. hearing this, tyun looks back at him, alarmed at the sudden mention.

“no? i’m not a star keeper.”

yeonjun nods his head deliberately, processing the information intake. “ohh, i must’ve mistaken you for someone else. i’m sorry.”

“please don’t be, it’s alright!” taehyun giggles in between, “we’ll get going now though, thank you for having us.”

the round boy opens the door, repeating taehyun’s words with a smile on his face until they completely vanished from the chaperone’s quarters, stumbling upon the grass of their backyard all over again and nearly falling because of the sudden change in the atmosphere. 

“you good?”

“yep, you too?” taehyun returns the question, and beomgyu does the same to his answer. “yeah, i’m alright.”

for a while, they both stay in that position to compose themselves again, and the taller one does it while staring at the silver tree planted several meters away from them. thinking.

“when my tree grows larger and that one branch on the left over there becomes thicker, we can climb up and see the stars together! come with, okay?” beomgyu sneers like a little kid at taehyun as the two of them begin to stroll towards the patio where the younger one forgot to close the sliding door before they left a while ago.

“of course.” taehyun assures his response with a warm tone and a good simper, dimples forming and eyes wrinkling. “let’s see it together.”

_my heart is full of you_

the several following days between beomgyu and taehyun revolved around planting flowers around the yard, baking, delivering more packages and studying the stars during the nights.

and the cycle repeats itself that one day, it reached the point where they had to part ways for a few short hours — it had been a difficult decision to make. but beomgyu understood that taehyun just had to be somewhere else he needed to be for once, by himself, on a said errand he had to run alone.

so over the next couple hours of waiting, beomgyu kills it trying to finish baking two batches of jam cookies in the oven, for absolutely no reason. and when the moon had arrived up on the sky, he stalled at the back porch with his borrowed telescope, until it began to bore him under the span of twelve minutes, realizing finally how the time ran so damn slowly when taehyun isn’t there with him.

but beomgyu learns more about waiting, about waiting exactly on the little bench in the front patio of their cottage house before began to worry. so he does some self debate on whether he should start searching for taehyun, or whether he shouldn’t really even do it at all.

after several minutes of pondering on the conclusion, he figured that he should make a portal at the front door to one of the possible places where taehyun could be. and although it may sound stupid to someone else, beomgyu inevitably releases small worried tears, because fuck it, honestly, he misses his friend. this has never happened before, it’s hard. he doesn’t know where taehyun is either. 

he then proceeds to twist the knob and pushes it open, but before he even got to step into the other side, someone pulls his forearm from behind, rotating back to meet the little blonde who yanked his sleeve downwards so he could toe up to beomgyu’s lips for a sudden kiss.

there’s an odd feeling inside gyu’s stomach at the same moment he shuts his eyes as soon as he saw taehyun do the same when the latter initiated it, making the last of beomgyu’s tears touch his cheeks as well while he placed another hand behind the taller boy’s head for him to get closer and probably take out every damned gas particle in between their mouths.

perhaps it wasn’t butterflies, but rather, fireworks. something ecstatic, yet soft andpretty.

and after two, three or four more seconds have passed, taehyun lets loose of the other one, giving a warm smile, curved eyes and an intense stare, clearly seeing beomgyu’s tinted cheeks and shy gaze even under the weak light of the lamp in the porch. he wipes the round boy’s face with his left hand and giggles, which makes beomgyu glance up to see him again, abruptly receiving a punch on his shoulder after he stopped touching gyu for the second time.

“i got so scared i thought you wouldn’t come back.” beomgyu scolds him, annoyed and feeling a little embarrassed but still trying to convince himself that he shouldn’t cry anymore, because taehyun is here, and there’s no more room for loneliness. the younger one just resumes laughing at how silly and cute beomgyu looks like when he subconsciously pouts in dismay.

“i’ll always be home by nine, sharp nine, i promise.” taehyun finishes drying off the boy’s cheeks and his own too before he began speaking again. ”so if you’re worried like hell, maybe just stand on our doorstep then close your eyes, and count to three as soon as the clock strikes that hour, and i’ll be right here. okay?”

‘and i’ll be right here. okay?’ was probably the only thing that beomgyu hears. expressions turning so evident to the latter when he gave him the most endearing smile on his face. “okay.”

. . .

just as much as taehyun liked the idea of playing with beomgyu’s fingers while they both sit next to each other on the edge of the bed, he fights the urge of doing so, but he continues to stare south at it as if he’s zoning out while beomgyu fixed his own hair with his other hand for a while. it’s a quarter to one, meaning the moon is at its highest, and the world is asleep, or if not, then maybe it’s just got its eyes closed.

because obviously, nobody wants to see or feel an aura similar of beomgyu’s and taehyun’s, sitting still-er than statues beside each other on the bed the moment gyu brought the topic back again.

“so when you kissed me, are we just gonna let it slide..?”

that’s the thing. they never kissed, no shit though. they’re friends, just like they have always been.

but if ugly was a feeling, it would best describe taehyun’s train of thought which keeps on trying to figure what to say next. because beomgyu is waiting, again. he didn’t want to make him wait longer anymore for tonight, it’s all too much.

“just,” tyun doesn’t stop glancing down at beomgyu’s paw which he had been staring at the past few minutes, not until he spoke for one more time. “i don’t know. i mean, oh my god why is this so hard...”

he gets distracted when the older boy’s hand hides away completely into his sleeve, so he collects all the courage to fix a look right at beomgyu’s face, finally. “...you already know that i like you, right?”

despite that beomgyu wasn’t exactly expecting such a response, he nods his head slowly, “yeah, i like you too so,” he clears his throat as an awkwardness killer, though it doesn’t really work. but the two of them are looking at each other now. faces tinted orange due to the warm light filtered by the windows coming from the night lamps outside.

“—so we’re kinda even right?” taehyun interrupts. eyes eager and curious which makes beomgyu simper, releasing a breathy laugh.

“i’m not sure.” gyu lifts the left hand that taehyun was looking at a while ago, proceeding to card his fingers only once through the younger one’s soft hair then presses a fist back down on the mattress afterwards. “i’m not sure if you like me the kind of way that i like you, you get it?”

taehyun’s eyes return to the same old, clueless of what beomgyu’s going to say next because he’s not done talking yet.

“and by that, i mean i like you, a whole lot. yeah.”

“show me then,” taehyun starts joking around and giggles, not knowing what to do or say next because for some reason, the semblance in between them remains somewhat off, at least that’s what he feels. maybe beomgyu sees it differently, maybe he thinks the other way round; so taehyun’s eyes keep a smile, forming a curve on his lips. but it doesn’t last long when beomgyu took his words seriously and actually leaned forward to kiss him.

taehyun hastily falters backwards when the older one pushes his face against him, eyes completely shut. so he does the same the moment beomgyu’s hand crawled up to touch the side of his jaw in a gentle manner, head shifting opposite the angle of taehyun’s when he mounts into it a little more. as if to palpably _show_ the younger one, even though he meant his last line lightheartedly.

beomgyu lulls off in between for a split second, smiling when he dives back towards the latter as he nibbled on taehyun’s lower lip before actually pulling away this time. the moment flies by; and like a failed take-off of a rocket ship headed to space, they settle back again.

the two then sit upwards once more to face each other solely, legs crossed on the bed in front of each other, comfortably looking face to face now with the round boy’s arched simper and taehyun’s stunned eyes still. nevertheless, he feels so damn warm to the point that he’d no doubt be all pink if the lights in the room were adjusted brightly enough. it could honestly just be the same case for them both anyway.

“i like you~” beomgyu coos softly, in such a tone usually used for an ‘i love you’. and it’s so annoying, because taehyun is too lost for words and probably will be the same until at least the next hour. but he tries to say something.

“i, love you?” he stutters, pointing his index finger towards gyu’s chest then carries on talking again when he processed the words he just uttered. “yes, i love you.”

the older boy stretches his arms to the sides, stooping forward and grasping onto the back of taehyun’s white shirt for a good embrace while he muffled a sleepy “me too, i love you too.” before he let the two of them fall into the pillows, instantly going unconscious on top of the little one with his arms wrapped around taehyun’s shoulders as soon as they descended into each other’s warmth.

_the moments that felt like magic and the night sky i walked with you,_

[unseen passage]

“please don’t tell anyone. beomgyu doesn’t know either, so please.”

contrasting with the sunny weather outside was taehyun’s clutched eyes staring at yeonjun, who called him for another visit, over an invisible envelope which only taehyun could see inside their mailbox back home despite beomgyu being the one usually in charge of taking care of all these kinds of things.

yeonjun sits comfortably on the recliner opposite taehyun who was seated a round table away from him. jjun gives him a good look, knowing he had it all figured out ever since the day he came over with beomgyu. taehyun continues speaking, “i’m not a star keeper anymore.”

“i lost my magic so long ago.”

“what?? who shoots the stars at the sky now then?” the older one replies, suddenly sitting upright after the alarming statement from the younger one.

“i don’t know.” he pauses to scratch the back of his head. “but i can’t be the only one of course, there’s always someone else who can do it too.”

“so what happened to your magic?”

taehyun doesn’t speak for a while, but yeonjun keeps waiting, having no choice but to quickly answer him. “i sacrificed the last of my stardust to this really weak tree i saw over seven years back without thinking of it deeply. then i turned into an ordinary human— please i’m begging you, don’t tell beomgyu. i don’t want him to get hurt.”

yeonjun nods accordingly. “don’t worry, we aren’t close anyway.”

taehyun bites his bottom lip hard, quite scared to carry on with his explanation. yes, he does trust beomgyu. though in this situation, he can’t help but feel nervous, thinking of how it is so possible that gyu tailed him on his way to run this ‘confidential errand’, and that the older boy could be eavesdropping the whole conversation from somewhere inside yeonjun’s house at the very given moment.

“it was beomgyu’s tree.” taehyun exhales the lump crumpling in his chest. “i don’t have much time left. our life spans got switched that day and it’s so blurry i can barely remember any of it anymore.” he leaves another heave of a breath, eyes becoming warm. “but i do know i only have a few days left, since his tree was supposed to live only eighteen years.”

the older one runs a hand on his own hair before crossing his arms and laying back against the soft cushion of his accent chair, taken aback from what he just heard, stressed; the moment has been silenced.

“you’re so stupid.”

“you can’t say that.” the younger boy tries to laugh at the careless response. it’s not really a problem for yeonjun. he’s an eternally living sun chaperone, there’s absolutely way more mortals who have left him hanging at the end of a good connection, or relationship. he’s had more than just experience, more hurt than the word ‘hurt’ itself.

and unbelievably, it’s so palpable that taehyun could be one of them.

through the broken giggles, there was also tears which fell right the second before he added on to what he just said, voice small and weak. “only beomgyu hyung can call me that.”

“i’m sorry.” yeonjun comes to realize once again how difficult it was for taehyun to tell him all this. so he stands from his seat and walks up to the crying boy, patting his back as the two of them lodged in silence.

_they might just disappear like dreams._

beomgyu makes two cups of star tea and sits on the hammock chair in the front patio with his legs crossed up on the tiny shelter, but he ends up drinking both the cups when he remembers that taehyun isn’t there with him.

unlike the other days, it was one of those rare ones where taehyun and beomgyu had to take a little time away from each other. though this was not really done unnecessarily, because taehyun was called by soobin late in the afternoon for a helping hand with his tulip field, coincidentally clashing with a few deliveries which he also had to help beomgyu out with as well. the older one insisted he was going to do it alone this time though, so the heavy feeling of taehyun’s absence was felt through the rest of the day. but beomgyu knew he was at least still looking forward to something.

indeed he’s eagerly looking forward, to the longest arm of the clock making its way towards number twelve as the shortest arm climbed up to number nine. beomgyu watched it move consistently from outside the porch through the windows in a comfortable manner since he had left the lights turned on inside the living room anyway. so he begins to count, slowly, “one... two...”

he closes his eyes, hands locked as though he was wishing on a shooting star before shouting;

“-three!” he opens them once again, met with nothing but the same old surrounding of a dull house. so he scoffs, “count to three my foot, kang taehyun.”

despite the let down, beomgyu keeps waiting on the hanging chair at the very corner of their porch. deciding to continue until the other one returns. “four, five, six.”

... “thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine...”

... “fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven...”

... “ninety two... ninety three... one hundred.”

. . .

surprisingly, beomgyu hasn’t fallen asleep out in the cold while reciting numbers in such a sedated way to the point that he has gotten too tired to even keep looking at the little area of the house without taehyun in it.

but beomgyu is feeling sleepy, very. his eyes tell so too, lids falling and sight clouding up. he doesn’t even take note of unknown warmth which cupped his cheeks gently, proceeding to rest his head against the soft palm that continues to hold it, only realizing a few more seconds later when a voice came along to greet him. “beomgyu hyung.”

the boy lifts his head lazily, cracking both eyes open to meet taehyun’s when he gazes up, but the drowsiness keeps him from seeing the latter clearly, having to grab the hands that carried his face a while ago so he knows that taehyun is actually here, he’s here now.

“you’re more... than a hundred seconds late. you stupid fucker.”

“i know, i’m sorry.” taehyun laughs at gyu’s slow talk for a little longer before his emotions transitioned into the opposite, halting down and almost staggering when he calls him again though he tried so hard not to sound like it. “but later on, you can check out some tiny tulips which i kept, because soobin told me i could take some. they’re yours! i put them in the mailbox.”

still no response.

“beomgyu— hyung. look at me.”

the first few moments, beomgyu could not comply with his calling, taking his own time as he rubbed his eyes with his fist to eventually gain a much better and attentive sight before him. but it still takes a while, until he notices how he sees everything else clearly, except for taehyun.

in beomgyu’s perspective, taehyun is frozen two inches away from him and still holding the younger one’s hands. gyu looks down at it as he grips it tighter, seeing how the boy’s flesh is turning out to be translucent, and so is the same for the rest of the figure standing in front of him. confused and worried, beomgyu speaks. “what’s happening taehyun, i can’t see you that well. i’ll go get my glasses okay?”

the round boy frees tyun’s hands, picks himself up abruptly from the seated position he’s in and wears on his slippers which were kept underneath the chair. but before he could even take a step away from taehyun to go back inside the house, the other one responds immediately, interrupting beomgyu with his pressured voice. “—hyung you don’t need them at all; there’s no use doing that.”

beomgyu rotates to see him again and feels how the younger boy pulled the hem of his sleeve for him not to leave. “i know you can’t see me properly.”

“what do you mean?” there’s a striking awareness that hits beomgyu when his eyes trace the tenuous outline of taehyun’s figure, revealing the boy’s appearance which looked like it’s inevitably on the brink of vanishing into thin air any time soon. but beomgyu remains tormented, he steps forward once to touch the latter’s face faintly, eyeing every part of taehyun, recognizing how he’s just about similar to a ghost. and despite the fact that there is a light bulb hanging right in between the two of them, taehyun’s shadow isn’t as firm as beomgyu’s, almost blending with the same pale grey wooden floor of the porch. the wind gushes once, then stops.

“taehyun-ah.” gyu’s hand drifts from the boy’s cheek down to grab his wrist when he feels that taehyun is crying. he pulls the little one towards him into a hug, letting tyun rest his chin on the boy’s shoulder as beomgyu caressed the back of his head. “why are you crying, what’s going on, tell me.”

“hyung—“ taehyun stutters, eyebrows knotting now that beomgyu can’t see his face. “i just got home, but i have— i have to leave again, i’m, i’m sorry.”

momentarily, sullenness envelopes the two of them. and although beomgyu was a little concerned that taehyun wasn’t hugging him back, he becomes more anxious when the boy slumps down to the ground on his knees suddenly, making the taller one stumble too. like the sudden storm after a segment of an atmosphere that’s too calming, taehyun’s ability to keep himself smiling, shatters.

“hey... what nonsense are you talking about,” beomgyu etches a simper through the distress gradually piling in him by having to pull away for a while so he could look into taehyun’s eyes which couldn’t even fix a proper stare back at him. head lowered, the older boy holds his jaw to bring him back up, drying taehyun’s tears with his thumbs as kisses him abruptly before he spoke again, “are you not feeling well? ..hurt somewhere?”

maybe beomgyu wasn’t expecting it. maybe his heart sank. because the next thing he knew was taehyun was nodding his head inertly.

“yeah, everything kinda, everything kinda hurts right now.”

tyun heaves a long sigh to attempt composing himself instead of letting his emotions get disrupted again, but fails to do so when beomgyu begins carding his fingers through his hair, intertwining the other with his hand as he tried to talk calmly.

“so you’re staying… right?” beomgyu questions, still smiling as if there are no tears distinctly falling from his eyes. “you can’t leave, taehyun.”

beomgyu embraces taehyun’s dissipating figure all over again. “i’ll take good care of you. you don’t, you don’t have to go.”

“hyung. i don’t want to leave either.”

it’s beautiful yet so destructive. the night, the fervidness, the seconds that ticked by when beomgyu kisses taehyun for one more time; _longer, longer, longer._

it’s beautiful yet so destructive, when taehyun utters the words beomgyu wanted and did not want to hear at the same time.

“let’s see the- the stars together, next time, beomgyu hyung.”

the round boy nods in compliance, trying to tighten his arms wrapped around taehyun. “yes... surely.”

“i love you, hyung.”

“— i love you too.”

clutching onto the back of taehyun’s jacket sturdily, the older one frets as it becomes more difficult when the little one gradually gets lighter.

“why are you- why are you like that,” beomgyu’s little sobs trail after a few hiccups, convulsing. “i can’t see you, i can’t feel you- i can’t feel you anymore, taehyun.”

time junctures, inevitably, and the warmth beomgyu once hugged, has turned into frost the moment he releases his arms to nothing but emptiness. trembling and freezing for a while before his mind completely registered—

that taehyun isn’t there anymore.

like the dried tulips that came along with a little note inside the mailbox, beomgyu’s heart, crumples. aches. longs, longs for the warmth that would never return, but stays written upon a poorly folded paper.

_beomgyu hyung, i miss you._

_i asked yeonjun hyung to come over and talk to you as soon as possible, so i’m pretty sure you know the reason as to why i left. i know i’m stupid but hey! if you wait, then maybe we’ll see each other again_

_i can’t promise anything, i don’t want to give you false hope either_

_i’m sorry. i love you_

_we’ll see the stars next time okay? when the weather is good._

_when the weather is good enough._


End file.
